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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23337928">Woods</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freezeurbrain/pseuds/Freezeurbrain'>Freezeurbrain</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Be More Quarantine Challenge, Drabble, mutant AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:33:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>855</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23337928</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freezeurbrain/pseuds/Freezeurbrain</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone has actually managed to escape the lab.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Woods</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Someone had actually managed to escape the lab. </p>
<p>It was all Brooke could do, just stare dumbfounded at the markings etched into the bark of the tree, as if they’d been carved with a knife. She blinked to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating, that years of living behind steel walls and fluorescent lights hadn’t driven her insane. But no, there it was. A collection of short dashes, looping and leading away from a single straight line. And underneath that, in messy letters, words had been scratched into the wood. There was “CHRISTINE”, “JENNA”, “MADELINE”, and a set of names that looked like they had been carved together- “RICH &amp; JAKE”. </p>
<p>The straight line could have been meant to represent the lab. Brooke was unfamiliar with these foggy, chilly woods she stood in, but she was almost certain that, from where this tree stood, the positioning of the line was lined up with the lab. Maybe it was a map, a map where other mutants had left their names as they escaped. Maybe the map led somewhere safe.</p>
<p>Or maybe Brooke was deluding herself. Maybe it was just some innocuous markings on a tree, and the names were just what local teenagers had carved there to be funny. Maybe she was wrong, and no one had actually managed to escape the lab, and she was alone. Alone in a world that hated her, that took her for a freak, where she was made to live in a lab that smelled like death. It was like an industrial building, gray, with those horrible white lights that caused piercing headaches. A place of nightmares. Where the shrieks of children pierced through even the thickest walls.</p>
<p>Brooke couldn’t stand around in this forest forever. She’d die. They’d find her and bring her back. They would fix that hole in the fence, that malfunctioning lock on the door, the broken security camera, all the things that Brooke had gotten lucky with. They’d make sure she wouldn’t be able to escape again. And they’d keep experimenting on her at the lab, dooming her to a fate that was certainly worse than death. </p>
<p>And so, Brooke ran. </p>
<p>It was easy to run when mutated cells made up your body. Whatever they had done to Brooke had made it so she ran faster than your average human being, and she could run for longer without getting tired. She’d only stuck around long enough to deduce where exactly the map wanted her to run. After that, she was off. </p>
<p>She wasn’t sure how long she spent running through the darkened pine trees. How many piercing winds whipped her face, or how many times she tripped over a tree root, only to get back up and keep running. She ran until her lungs were on fire, until her legs screamed out from the pain and she fell to the ground. </p>
<p>The only sounds she could at first were the sounds of her own breath and the pounding of her heart. For several minutes, she sat there, sucking in breaths of oxygen and panting, legs aching after having been at work for so long. Gradually, the sounds she was making became less and less prominent, and Brooke could suddenly hear the forest around her. The sounds of owls hooting in the night, of wind rustling through the leaves. She could feel the cool night air on her face, and, through the branches of the trees, she could catch a glimpse of the silvery moon hanging in the sky above her. </p>
<p>And then she heard a twig snap behind her. </p>
<p>Every bone in her body tensed as she whipped her head around, eyes wide. She half expected to see a scientist or a guard standing there, ready to take her back to that hellhole. Her first thought was to attack. To kick, scream, bite, do whatever she could to make it so that they wouldn’t get her back easily. Show them that she wasn’t a lamb going blindly to the slaughter. She was glad she didn’t attack, however, when she turned around and saw it was a girl. </p>
<p>The girl, probably around Brooke’s age, stood there with wide golden-brown eyes. She wore the same clothes as Brooke- the only difference was the number stamped on her shirt. She was an escapee. Just like Brooke. </p>
<p>“Who...” Brooke could barely get a single word out. She was shocked, taken aback at the fact that people had actually made it out of the lab. “Who are you?”</p>
<p>The girl seemed just as surprised as Brooke as she answered. “I’m Christine.”</p>
<p>“You’re from the lab.” Brooke motioned to the numbers on Christine’s shirt, marking which experiment number she would have been. “And you escaped?”</p>
<p>Christine nodded. </p>
<p>“And all the others, the names on the tree... did they escape too?”</p>
<p>Christine nodded again. Then, abruptly, she spoke. “It’s not safe out in the open. Come on.”</p>
<p>She held out her hand to Brooke. Brooke hesitated for a second, her mind racing with thoughts. But she shrugged those thoughts off, took Christine’s hand, and allowed the other girl to lead her through the woods.</p>
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